Regional Academy for Liberalism – Training of Trainers project strenghtens the capacity building capacities of organizations in Southeast and Central Europe by teaching local experts how to effectively share their knowledge within their organizations and beyond.
The training of trainers event in Bratislava gathered trainers, campaigners and political specialists from Central and Southeast Europe. Training was given by Benjamin van Es, VVD trainer and Sander van Diepen, D66 trainer. The goal of the training was to facilitate a sharing of best practices, equip participants with training skills and present concrete campaign planning tools that can be used in their own organizations. The event was opened by Goran Neralić, president of the IEC and member of the ELF Board of Directors who presented the objectives and activities of the Regional Academy for Liberalism programme. Afterwards, Milan Ftorek, member of the Board of Progressive Slovakia, welcomed the participants to Bratislava and said a few words about the political situation in the country. First day and session ended with a round of introductions of participants and a preview of the programme of the weekend.
The programme was divided into 5 sessions structured into 3 segments – theory, practical examples and a work assignment. First session was titled “Roadmap to elections” and presented ways of planning for a political campaign, including tolls that can be used to facilitate planning of local campaigners. Afterwards, trainers talked about campaigning tools while primarily focussing on developing and maintaining an effective ground campaign structure. Before the end of the day, trainers also discussed the role of volunteers and gave participants a canvassing exercise in which they took on the role of canvasser and tried out knocking on doors in a group. On Sunday, the trainers wrapped up the workshop with a session on social media. Participants were then given homework of doing their own training before the end of September. This will qualify them for the Masterclass training in the Hague.
